Brazil Trip - Day 9

Day 9
Heading home


We had to head home after such a wonderful trip! :(

Once we arrived in the airport at Rio, we had a 6 hour layover so we thought we'd check in and check our bags really quick and then run to a restaurant to watch the Brazil soccer game. Little did we know that the whole place would literally shut down. Our airline was shut down until after the game was over. So, we ended up finding a little food court with a little 32" TV for everyone to see the game. We discovered some of our flight attendants watching the game on an overturned luggage cart because it was so packed at the restaurant! :)




Here's a great picture of the first goal scored by Brazil!



And, here's a great video of the second goal scored by Brazil!!

Video link of Brazil fans at the airport

What a great way to end a great trip!! Sorry it took so very long to post all of these, we'll get back to baby news and everyday life now for the blog! :)

Brazil Trip - Day 8

Day 8
Wedding Day!!!!!!


While us girls went to the salon to get our hair and make-up done the boys....well....I'm not actually sure what they did. I think they just hung out and watched soccer. They did walk around downtown Campinas during the afternoon and Steven took a couple of "crowd" photos for my mom since she loves those!






So we all were busy getting ready for the wedding and then it was SHOW TIME!



After the reception was over we talked Donlan into getting into Jake and Mimi's getaway car and hiding until they got in the car. He had to hide in the floorboard of the passenger seat and he was scared that the driver would freak out when he got into the car. We told him we'd watch out for him and then went home for the night to our getaway van and left him to fend for himself! He was in the car by himself for a little bit until the driver came up to the car and Donlan was able to say "brother" in Portuguese and the driver understood immediately what he was doing and got very excited! Shortly after that, Mimi came up and saw Donlan's head and thought there was a dead person in their car. While she freaked out, Donlan explained and then she kept very quiet while her, Jake and the driver got in the car. Jake was chatting away about how wonderful the wedding was and after about 15 minutes Donlan pops out and asks Jake "So, where are we going?" Jake freaked out and Mimi and the driver laughed and laughed!! Here is a little video of us leaving him alone in the car without knowing if he actually made it home!


Video link of Wedding practical joke

Brazil Trip - Day 7

Day 7 – Friday
Lazy Day

In case you missed yesterday's post of Steven's new favorite bedding, here you go!



This is the awesome breakfast spread our hosts had for us every single morning! Wow!! They were so kind!



Since the dress I had was a no-go for the wedding, Mimi offered to take me downtown to buy a new one. I got to spend most of the day meeting my new cousin!! So much fun, who doesn't love girl time?!? We got my dress, went to lunch and went to pick up her dress. Lots of girl talk and fun times were had! No pictures from that since Steven had the camera.

While I was out with Mimi, the boys (and poor Lynnette) were watching the USA soccer game. I heard it was lots of fun. Here are some pictures of the park where they had big screens set up to watch soccer games (Brazil does not mess around about their soccer):






That night we went to the best restaurant ever. You paid about $12 to get UNLIMITED pizza. And this was not your typical CiCi’s (only you Oklahoman’s will get that one). The waiters brought the pizza to you and there were so many new kinds to try: Coconut Pizza, BBQ pizza, Cream cheese and corn pizza, etc. After stuffing yourself with all kinds of new and different kinds of pizza, they brought dessert pizza! Chocolate pizza, Banana w/cinnamon pizza, Dulce de leche pizza, etc. YUMMY!! Best $12 I ever spent on a meal. It was a perfect way to try all kinds of new things without having to guess what you’re ordering and hope you’ll want to eat all of it!



After eating, we played pool with some of Mimi’s friends then headed home to get ready for the wedding the next day!

Brazil Trip - Day 6

Day 6 – Thursday
Travel to Campinas/Rehearsal for the United States weirdo's

Once we arrived at the airport that morning and were checking in we found out that Jeremy and Lynnette were upgraded to First Class! Way to go guys!! And since Jeremy is the nicest cousin EVER, he gave me his seat so he could go sit in coach with the boys and be manly and watch Troy. I think the boys were more excited about this than they let on. Lynnette and I were living the good life in luxury seats. It was the best 58 minute flight ever! We arrived in Campinas and met Mimi and her family and just relaxed for part of the afternoon. Then we hopped in the van and went to eat a Brazilian snack of Acai fruit with granola, honey and bananas. It was SO delicious. I’m so very very sad I didn’t take a picture of it!! After our snack it was off to the church for a rehearsal for us Americans. Evidently in Brazil, there are no rehearsals necessary, they all just kind of know the drill…..hmm….smart cookies, eh!

Once rehearsal was over, we headed out to have Brazilian hot dogs. I’m pretty sure every man in the United States would fall in love with these things; the jury is still out for me. It was weird….so the hot dog is layered from bottom to top like this:

Bun
Hot Dog
Mustard
Mayonnaise
Ketchup
Chicken, Pork or special cheese sauce
Peas (what they call green beans)
Corn
Crunchy fried things
Mashed Potatoes (yes, you read that right, mashed potatoes on a hot dog)
(I’m pretty sure I’ve missed a few of the ingredients, but you get the idea)

Here’s some pictures in case you don’t believe me:





Steven enjoyed it (of course); I ate 1/3 of it but am still not sure if it was good. It was just so many things mixed together and if you know me at all, you know that was somewhat stressful to try and eat. What a fun experience though!

After dinner, we headed home. Steven and I got to stay with the nicest couple that attend Mimi's dad's church so it was fun to get to experience culture at someone else's house as well. Here's a great pic of Steven all snuggled in his twin bed for the night (he must have known at that point that we were having a little girl)!

Brazil Trip - Day 5

Day 5 – Wednesday
“Marshmallow mountain”
We started off the morning by hopping on the subway to go to Maracana Stadium. This stadium was built for the sole purpose of the World Cup game held there in the 1950’s. It was really cool, but we couldn’t get in ☹. Steven wanted to jump the fence but I told him that I was not going to bail him out of Brazilian jail and since this was his first international trip he decided he’d like to come home not in handcuffs. Here are some pictures:







After we went to the stadium we headed to downtown Rio to get some lunch. The restaurant we ended up at didn't have any waiters that spoke English and they handed us a menu in Portuguese. After the 5 of us fumbling through the selections, the waiter brought some delicious looking meat out to the table next to ours and Steven yelled "I want that! What is it?" Evidently, his tone was universal and the waiter figured out we didn't speak Portuguese and brought us an English menu and we were able to order the best BBQ we've ever had. Now, for all you Texans and Oklahomans out there, this is not BBQ like we think of it. This is grilled over a flame with very little flavoring (except lots of salt), not meat swimming in BBQ sauce. I know, it was the biggest culture shock Steven experienced the whole time! :)

Here is a picture of a beautiful theater we saw downtown after we ate lunch before heading to Sugarloaf Mountain....



After we visited downtown Rio, we headed back to the subway to go to Sugar Loaf Mountain, or as Donlan calls it “Marshmallow Mountain.” Sugar Loaf is basically two mountains in different heights that have cable cars to take you to each mountain. The highest mountain is about 2500 feet tall so the views were incredible! We actually stayed for a few hours to we could watch the sunset. It was quite the sight, see our beautiful pictures below:

Video link of Sugar Loaf cable car

Video link of Little Monkeys at Sugar Loaf

Video link of Helicopter take off

























This was our last day in Rio so we had our last dinner there, went to bed and got ready to head to Campinas, Sao Paulo for the wedding!

Brazil Trip - Day 4

Day 4 – Tuesday
Donlan arrived, let the party begin!
This was our first day of official “tourism” of Rio. We started the morning off by greeting Donlan and heading off to the Christ Redeemer Statue. Since this was also World Cup day for Brazil, it was like a national holiday so there weren’t very many people on the shuttle ride up the mountain or at the Statue which was quite nice. It’s a good thing we went in the morning though, the tour guide told us that even though the mountain would be open, there wouldn’t be anyone around to serve us or help us get to the statue! They take their soccer seriously! Here are some beautiful pictures from the mountain and of the statue itself, we stole some pictures from Jeremy and Lynnette since their camera is way more awesome in quality:


Here we are going up the escalator to the statue after the crazy twisty ride up the mountain:



Beautiful views from the mountain:



Donlan and the statue:




Jeremy, Lynnette, Baby Page and the statue:



Steven, Sara, Baby Girl Farns and the statue:



Just the statue:



All of us waiting on the bus to come get us so we can go see that game!



This video needs a little bit of an explanation. When you travel with Donlan, something silly is always done by him that gets a good laugh (even by those around). Donlan decided he wanted a picture hugging Jesus so as Lynnette and Jeremy were trying to get the angle just right, Steven and I were watching with joy at how silly Donlan looked and how weird we all looked and were making all people from the US look. Oh well, it made for a pretty funny picture too. See the video and the final picture below:

Video link of Funny tourist at the Christ Redeemer Statue

The finished product:



Here we are laughing it up at how silly Donlan looks!



After Christ Redeemer, we realized that the subway might be shut down and we may not be able to get back to our apartment until after the game was over. We stopped for lunch and this crazy restaurant where you have to order your food first and then shove your way through the crowd to hand the cooks your order. Since none of us spoke Portuguese, this was quite a feat for all 5 of us to accomplish. The fact that we were all able to eat the food we chose and enjoy it was quite the added bonus!! During this meal we found out Donlan's philosophy on life. If you know Donlan at all, none of what he says is really shocking.

Video link of Donlan's Philosophy on Life

After we ate, we decided to just hop back on the subway and head home. Little did we know, we weren’t the only ones with that plan! See some photos and video of that adventure below:

You can kind of see a tiny bit of Jeremy's head in the window. Lynnette is in that sea of people somewhere too, but she was too squished to see in this picture.



Steven likes to video everything, I mean EVERYTHING. So we were those wacky tourists videoing our attempt to get on the subway. I mean, really, you'd think we'd never even seen a subway before! :)

Video link of Boarding a busy train in Brazil

Once home, we realized there was a HUGE party going on at Copacabana Beach to celebrate and watch the game. We all decided to go down and check it out. Donlan left right away to go down there and the rest of us waiting until a few minutes into the game. As we headed out, I had to pee (AGAIN) so I ran down underground to the beach bathroom (yes, it’s a real bathroom, not what you’re thinking) and we lost track of Jeremy and Lynnette.

The bathroom is the stairs going under the ground on the left. It cost about $1 just to go potty!



Steven and I decided to walk along the water line and enjoy the beach as we made our way to the party. Evidently we missed Donlan running back to tell us that we couldn’t get in because you had to have a ticket, so the three of them went back to the apartment while Steven and I walked and walked and walked and walked. We made it to the big tents and found out we couldn’t get in but were there right when Brazil scored a goal. That was such a FUN experience!! See video:

Video link of Brazil fans on the beach

After that first goal, we headed back home and stopped at a restaurant and got to see the second goal. No video of that one though, ☹ so sorry.



The environment was so exciting and fun!! When we realized we still had nearly a mile to go to get home, we hailed a cab and made our way back to the apartment. Steven was very excited about his first cab ride that was made all the more interesting by the fact that the guy spoke no English and didn’t really know where our cross streets were located (remember the picture from Day 2). It was quite hilarious trying to tell the cabbie where to go. But we made it home!

Brazil Trip - Day 3

Day 3 – Monday
Adventures about town

We set off for the day to just look around Rio and see what we could stumble upon. We came across lots of beautiful things that day:

Here is the Marina, where Jeremy almost fell in the water. That would have been a good story! Maybe we should just make something up!



Video link to Brazil Beach

Beautiful views of Sugar Loaf and the Christ Redeemer Statue from Flamengo Beach.

Video link to Christ Redeemer and Sugar Loaf

World travelers debating on where to go next.







Jeremy and Lynette crossing a dangerous intersection.

Video link to Crazy Tourists in Brazil

There were really cool underground walkways with lots of graffiti:



The beautiful 120 year old church:



Steven was the pack mule on the trip holding all of the goodies and most importantly water! The pregnant girls needed lots of water on this trip!



Steven's worst nightmare. Soccer being played on a perfectly good basketball court!

Video link to Soccer being played on a basketball court in Brazil

Probably one of the most interesting things we saw was this man who had about 6 chickens hanging out with him in urban Rio:

Video link to Rooster's in Brazil

The dog that distracted us from finding the subway:

Video link of Little dog in Brazil

We ended up getting so lost that we walked a few extra miles, but people in Brazil are so very nice and they guided us back to the subway. Next time, we'll learn the language before we travel! :)